Scarlet Witch
"Love is for souls, not bodies" Characteristics *Weight- 121 lbs *Eyes- Blue *Hair- Auburn *Alignment- Good History Brotherhood Magda, pregnant with the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, takes sanctuary at Mount Wundagore in Transia, the home of the High Evolutionary, after seeing her husband Magnus use his magnetic powers for the first time. The twins are born, and as Mt. Wundagore is the prison of the Elder God Chthon, his residual energies alter Wanda and will later give her the ability to use magic in addition to her mutant abilities. Fearing that Magnus would discover the children, Magda leaves the sanctuary and dies of exposure to the elements. The twins are attended by Bova. Bova soon assists the World War II superheroine Miss America through labor, but the birth results in a stillborn child and Miss America loses her own life in the process. These complications are thought to be due to radiation poisoning deliberately caused by the villain Isbisa, the enemy of Miss America's husband Robert Frank, AKA Whizzer. Bova hides the truth from Frank and claims that only the mother has died, and that he now has twin children. Frank is shocked at the death of his wife and flees at super speed. As Wundagore was no place for human infants, the High Evolutionary places them in the care of the gypsies Django and Marya Maximoff, who raise the twins as their own children. The twins are forced to flee a mob when Wanda uses her powers to protect herself and accidentally causes a fire that kills their adoptive gypsy mother. Once Pietro and Wanda reach adolescence, they discover that they are in fact mutants. Pietro possesses superhuman speed, while Wanda learns that she can control probability. When the pair display their powers in public, and are again attacked by a superstitious crowd, they are saved by their father — now the supervillain Magneto — although neither Magneto nor his children are aware of their connection. Magneto then recruits the pair for the first incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The Brotherhood battles the X-Men on several occasions, and the twins become reluctant members of the Brotherhood and only remain because of their obligation to Magneto. When Magneto and his lackey Toad are abducted by the cosmic entity Stranger, the Brotherhood dissolves and the twins declare that their debt to Magneto has been paid. Avengers Soon after Magneto's abduction, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are recruited by the hero Iron Man to join The Avengers. Along with Captain America as leader, and former villain Hawkeye, the four become the second generation of The Avengers and are later dubbed as "Cap's Kooky Quartet". Wanda becomes close friends with Hawkeye and a loyal member of the team until she is accidentally shot on a mission against Magneto. Quicksilver then flees from the Avengers with his wounded sister. The pair accompany Magneto back to his mid-Atlantic base, and Wanda spends the next few weeks recovering from her wound. She watches as Magneto captures the X-Men and Pietro skirmishes with Cyclops, one of the X-M en, and later Spider-Man. After these encounters, the twins finally realize that Magneto is the true villain. Wanda and Pietro are then kidnapped along with several other mutants by the Sentinels, but are subsequently freed by the X-Men. Quicksilver later returns to the Avengers and advises them that Wanda has been kidnapped and taken to another dimension by the warlord Arkon. After being rescued, Wanda, together with Pietro, rejoins the team. Vision Wanda then falls in love with teammate Vision, an android originally created as a weapon by Avenger's foe Ultron. Before long, the two develop a romantic relationship. Their relationship has a tumultuous start as both Quicksilver and Hawkeye object, Quicksilver cannot accept the idea that his sister loves a robot while Hawkeye loves Wanda himself. Despite this, the pair eventually marry with the blessing of the entire team. The Scarlet Witch begins to become frustrated with the fluctuating level of her mutant ability, and is tutored by a true witch, Agatha Harkness. The training allows Wanda even greater control over her hexes and this proves invaluable in battle against foes such as Ultron. Wanda and Pietro also met Robert Frank, who briefly joins the Avengers, believing them to be his children. This is later disproved when Wanda and Pietro are abducted by Django Maximoff and taken to Wundagore. Wanda is temporarily possessed by the demon Chthon, but after being released is advised by Bova that neither Frank nor Maximoff is their biological father. Soon after, while trying to track down Magda one last time, Magneto would learn that he was the father of the twins. He immediately informed them of their relationship shortly after the birth of Pietro's daughter Luna. The Scarlet Witch and Vision take a leave of absence from the Avengers, and courtesy of Wanda's enhanced power conceive twin boys named Thomas and William. Wanda gives birth, and, with Vision, eventually joins the West Coast Avengers, needing some time away from the main team after Vision becomes unbalanced and tries to take over the world's computers. Their relationship is almost ended when Vision is abducted by a coalition of the world governments and dismantled to ensure that he is no longer a threat. Although rebuilt, Vision is recreated as a colorless, emotionless synthezoid. Wanda's agitation is increased when Wonder Man - whose brain patterns were the model for the Vision - refuses to repeat the process and "humanize" Vision, as he is secretly in love with the Scarlet Witch and sees an opportunity for himself. Now desperate, the Scarlet Witch consults a Dean of Robotics in the state of Texas, who secretly manages a mutant research facility. The Scarlet Witch is bonded with a sentient symbiotic substance, with the Dean intending to use Wanda as a prototype to replace mankind. Wanda is, however, rescued by her teammates with the assistance of Captain America and She-Hulk. Another personal setback follows when it is revealed that Wanda's children are in fact two missing shards of the soul of the demonic entity Mephisto. In an act of kindness, Agatha Harkness then erases all trace of the children from Wanda's memory. Despite this, the Scarlet Witch retreats from reality and falls into a catatonic state. Vision, now guided by cold logic, decides in the wake of recent developments on the East coast to return to the main team, and is apparently oblivious to the condition of his wife. Wanda's weakened state over the loss of her children and changes in her husband makes her susceptible to the mental commands of Magneto, who is also apparently being aided by Quicksilver. Adopting a new evil persona, Wanda turns against the Avengers as she and her family battle the Avengers West Coast team, until it is revealed that Pietro was only waiting for the right moment to stop his father and helps drive Magneto off. During the battle, Wanda again reverts back to a catatonic state, with this being caused by the time entity Immortus; although he is later defeated and Wanda is rescued by the Avengers and restored to sanity. Despite Vision's absence, the Scarlet Witch remains with the team. When the West Coast team is dissolved by the main team due to internal disputes and mistakes in the field, Wanda goes on to lead a breakaway team called Force Works. The team suffers several setbacks, including the death of Wonder Man on the first mission. When the team splinters after the last mission involving Kang the Conqueror, the Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye return to the main team. Vision and Scarlet Witch reconcile shortly before sacrificing themselves with the other Avengers and the Fantastic Four to stop the mutant villain Onslaught. Due to the intervention of Franklin Richards, Scarlet Witch and her teammates exist in a parallel universe for a year, until being returned to the mainstream universe by Franklin. Shortly after the heroes return, Scarlet Witch is kidnapped by the sorceress Morgan le Fay, with the intention of using Wanda's powers to warp reality in le Fay's image. Although successful, Wanda retaliates by restoring Captain America's memories, who in turn is able to restore several Avengers' memories. Wanda also accidentally resurrects Wonder Man, who assists in her escape. Although the Avengers defeat le Fay, Vision is damaged in the final battle when Le Fay destroys the lower half of his body. Vision is placed in a surgical repair device, and via hologram communicates with Wanda and asks her not to visit him while he heals. An upset Wanda visits Agatha Harkness and learns that she is now able to channel chaos magic, which will allow her to change reality. After much deliberation and still hurting from Vision's rejection, Wanda resurrects Wonder Man and the two become lovers. Vision is eventually repaired and has a confrontation with Wonder Man, though they part on amicable terms. During the war against Kang, Wanda and Wonder Man separate, as they realize that theirs is a relationship of passion with no interest in a normal future. Wanda later reconciles with Vision, and becomes energized with chaos magic when the villain Scorpio splits the cosmic entity the In-Betweener into his separate order and chaos personas. Avengers Disassembled The active members of the Avengers team during the event included the Scarlet Witch. The Avengers are depicted returning from events in England, and Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, enters into a romantic tryst with the wounded, but recovering, Hawkeye. While discussing the affair with Wanda, a slightly tipsy Wasp confesses to a pregnancy scare and inadvertently mentions Wanda's own children. This causes Wanda to suffer a mental breakdown, and she starts rewriting reality, causing a series of threats and incidents to inexplicably occur one after the other, including the deaths of Vision, Scott Lang, and Hawkeye. She also procedes to recreate her children. The Avengers confront her and Doctor Strange shuts down her mind. Magneto suddenly appeared to collect his daughter, and brought her to Genosha so Professor X could help her. House of M Unfortunately, Xavier refused to do so as Wanda attempted to restore her husband to life and undo the damage she had caused. Keeping Wanda in a comatose state, Xavier ultimately called a meeting between the Avengers and X-Men to decide whether or not Wanda should be killed. Quicksilver was horrified at the fact that Xavier seriously considered killing Wanda and convinced Wanda to take desperate action to keep this from happening: By using her powers, Wanda warped reality into the House of M, a world where mutants were the majority, humans the minority, and Magneto the ruler (simultaneously giving various other heroes what they wanted most, hoping this would prevent them rebelling). In this reality, Wanda was believed to be a human, due to an alternate body she created to represent her in public while she cared for her children in private. A young mutant named Layla Miller (a deformed mutant who was given a normal body thanks to Wanda's reality warp) was able to use her mutant abilities to restore several of the heroes' memories. Meanwhile Wolverine (the only person who sensed the reality's "wrongness") and a resurrected Hawkeye (who had been seemingly killed during Wanda's breakdown) and Cloak gathered these heroes into an assault force to try to restore reality. This rag-tag army headed to Genosha to attack Magneto, believing him to be the one responsible for the change. During the battle between Magneto's forces and the others, Layla was able to restore Magneto's memories; as well, Wanda confessed to Dr. Strange that it was Quicksilver, not Magneto, who had initiated the reality warp. Enraged, Magneto confronted Quicksilver, angry that Quicksilver had done all of this in his name. Quicksilver told Magneto that he would have let Wanda die. Magneto replied that Quicksilver had only used him and Wanda. He then killed Quicksilver. Wanda revived her brother, telling Magneto that Quicksilver had only wanted him to be happy and that Magneto had ruined them, choosing the mutants over his own children. She further denounced Xavier and in three words ("No more mutants") Wanda changed the world back to its original form but added the mass depowering of 90% of the entire mutant population, thus being responsible for many deaths. Surviving mutants and ex-mutants referred to this as "M-Day: The worst day in mutant history". Wundagore After the fallout, the resurrected Hawkeye/Clint Barton tracked Wanda to a small village near Wundagore Mountain, where he unknowingly saved her from a thief. Wanda was living in a small apartment with her only relative, her "Aunt Agatha" (who was never seen, but could possibly have been a manifestation of Wanda's now-dead mentor Agatha Harkness; Wanda also mentioned this to Beast, saying she was stuck out here for purposes of looking after an "elderly relative" who would worry id she got home late, indicating that this Aunt indeed existed in some form). She appeared to be powerless and believed that she had lived her entire life in the village. She did not recognize Hawkeye, nor did she remember her life with the Avengers or other events. Wanda told Hawkeye that he was her "hero" for dealing a thief and kissed him, and they spent the night together. The following morning, while Wanda was sleeping, Hawkeye became curious about the next room where "Aunt Agatha" was supposedly sleeping, but the doorknob appeared to shift away from his hands, a subtle reality manipulation usually associated with the Scarlet Witch. However, Clint looked back to see that Wanda was still asleep. Beast later found Wanda at the same village and sought her help to deal with the aftermath of M-Day. She had no memory of him either, and claimed that she did not believe in magic. The Young Avengers Wiccan and Speed decided to find Wanda, as Wiccan wanted to know once and for all if she was indeed their mother. They traveled to several places connected to Wanda and themselves in their search, but Wiccan was unable to detect any sign of Wanda's magic. Wiccan and Speed united to search for her around the planet, but both ultimately failed, though they were told by Mister Pandemonium that they had to cease their quest to seek her, lest risk unleashing the darkness of the Witch's past yet again. Later, the Asgardian God Loki, concealed in an astral formby simple spells and illusions , disguised herself as Wanda and assembled a new team of Mighty Avengers to be led by Hank Pym to oppose the demon Chthon. Chthon was eventually banished back to his own dimension, and his human vessel Quicksilver was released from his control. Loki's goal was to prevent another god of chaos from laying siege to the Nine Worlds and cracking Norman Osborn's armor to quicken his fall. She continued to assemble the Mighty Avengers, who remained unaware of Loki's involvement. None were aware that the true Wanda had yet to reemerge from seclusion, as only Clint Barton, Beast and higher powers than they, such as the Living Tribunal or Uatu knew of her status. Quicksilver, having joined the Mighty Avengers, sought to use his position on the team to find her, a desire unmissed by the impassive Loki. Pym also wanted to use Pietro in turn to solve the mysterious return of Wanda Maximoff. Agamotto later detected her presence and displays her as one of thirty possible candidates for the role of Sorcerer Supreme through his Eye, but due to her apparent lack of magic and past instability refrained from selecting her, instead choosing Brother Voodoo. Avengers Vs X-Men In a prelude to the events of Avengers Vs X-Men, the Scarlet Witch is shown to be freelancing as her own hero when she defeats an attacking villain. She tries to go back to the Avengers at the urging of her friends Ms. Marvel and Spiderwoman, but is turned away by her former husband, The Vision, who she had a hand in killing and controlling. A crying Wanda is then carried away by Ms. Marvel. She is shown to be living with Quicksilver when the fight begins. Despite Quicksilver's urging, Wanda refuses to participate. Powers and abilities Powers Known Powers: Wanda is an Omega-Level mutant. Chaos Magic Reality Warping: Scarlet Witch's main power is the superhuman ability to manipulate chaos magic, given to her by the demon Chthon (imprisoned within Wundagore Mountain) when she was born. Her hexes were, by extension, simple, indirect manifestations of this magic, destabilizing probabilities by inducing chaos. The Scarlet Witch's powers are not fully under her conscious control, and their effects persist even after Dr. Strange's Eye of Agamotto shut down her mind. Even the combined efforts of the Sorcerer Supreme and Earth's most formidable psychic mind were unable to fully inhibit such effects for long. Wanda was even able, in the main reality, to generate armies from nowhere and revive Wonder Man from another plane of existence. Her powers were sought by Camelot's mistress of the mystic arts, Morgan le Fay, to bridge the gap between le Fay's faerie magics and the Asgardian Twilight Sword and restructure reality in the conniving witch's own twisted image. There seem to be no limits to her powers during House of M, as she was easily able to alter the entire Earth-616 reality at will, and is also altering reality on a near-multiversal scale, permanently shifting the nature of all possible futures of Marvel, without even realizing what she had done, though certain of her victims have claimed to be able to discern the difference between reality and her spells. Wanda was also shown to easily wipe any in her own illusory reality from existence with but a thought (the first two using her children, if possibly accidentally, as power conduits), even Veranke, Clint Barton and Nuke. Maximoff appeared capable of even causing the loss of 98% of the mutant population and the deletion of the Mutant Genome created by the near-omnipotent Celestials, her powers barely blocked by the joined forces of the Sorcerer Supreme and the strongest psychic mind on Earth, and even then only very partially so. Doctor Strange also states to Beast that Wanda's one spell is of such complexity and strength that it has woven itself into reality and the world of magic itself, and that if he were to even to try to reverse it, all of reality would implode; the spell Wanda cast also affects even the alternate realities, strongly implying she was of sufficient power to permanently change the Multiverse itself, which is nearly unprecedented, even by cosmic entities. Furthermore, in a reality diverging from the House of M's concluding events, "What If Scarlet Witch Ended the House of M event by saying No More Powers?", Wanda Maximoff is shown to display an even greater extent of power to remove at least all of Earth's super-humans of all their personal abilities, including breaking the connection a Sorcerer Supreme has with the mystic arts, canceling cosmic-energy based powers, such as that of the Fantastic Four, stripping all the world's mutants of their variety of powers and eliminating powers caused by irradiation on a cellular level or by gamma-ray blood transfusions, as well as revealing and de-powering all the concealed Skrulls on Earth and all Inhumans, including Black Bolt on Earth's moon. Wanda is even capable of healing the severely damaged legs of Charles Xavier while all his Earth and alien friends, allies and colleagues's efforts (including even giving Xavier a new body) apparently failed for countless years. Wanda Maximoff of the mainstream reality is actually considered the very "nexus-being" of the central universe of Earth-616, serving as the entity that personifies the realm's character and serves as the focal point or anchor of that reality (Uatu described a nexus-being as one of the "rare individual entities with the power to affect probabilities-and thus the future"), making her along the scales of class and power as the other known nexus-beings, such as Merlin, Sise-Neg, Kang the Conqueror and Leonard Tippit; Franklin Richards, Vision, Jean Grey/Phoenix, and Odin (those last four from alternate Earths), with Eleyn another nexus being from the Dan Abnett Scarlet Witch mini-series. As the spell causing Decimation only affected mutant-based powers, not mystic-based ones, in all logic, Wanda is still perfectly capable of wielding magic, even if her mutant hex-powers have been removed; even a normal human would hold some magical potential. Wanda's ability to channel and wield magical energy was brought about by the demonic sorcerer Chthon. On the day that Wanda was born, the ghostly specter of Chthon visited the newborn Wanda and "blessed" Wanda so that Wanda could channel the dangerous Chaos Magic that was the basis for Chthon's unholy might. Chthon's intentions were to create a vessel that he could possess one day, when Wanda was a full-grown adult, though his schemes to do so were foiled by the Avengers. As such, due to Chthon's "blessing", Wanda is also vulnerable to having all of her powers disabled if Chthon is ever disrupted. During the period in which pages from Chthon's sacred tome, the Darkhold, were scattered across the globe, Wanda's powers were periodically disabled -- with her being left powerless in several dangerous battles against various super-villains -- until several of the missing pages were restored to the book. Although this particular plot thread was stated by Agatha Harkness who was reanimated by Wanda. How much of it is true and how much of it is more unconscious manifestations of the Scarlet Witch's reality manipulation is up to the reader's preference. *''Hex Bolts: Initially, the Scarlet Witch had the ability to manipulate probability via her "hexes" (often manifesting physically as "hex spheres" or "hex bolts"). These hexes are relatively short range, and are limited to her line of sight. Casting a hex requires a gesture and concentration on her part, though the gestures are largely a focus for the concentration. Early in her career, her hexes were unconscious on her part, and would be automatically triggered whenever she made a particular gesture, regardless of her intent. These hexes would only manifest "bad luck" effects. She later gained enough control over her powers that her powers only work when she wants them to, and they are not limited to negative effects. She can use her hexes to light flammable objects, contain or remove air from a particular volume, deflect objects, stop the momentum of projectiles, open doors, explode objects, create force fields and deflect magical attacks. Her powers while beginning to unveil a higher potential appeared capable of prevailing against the mastered mystical ones of Dormammu in his own Dark Dimension when she and the Avengers fought against him for Avalon's Evil Eye power-object, albeit indirectly by disrupting the energies of Dormammu and the Eye. They have been known to alter the molecular composition and physical state of physical objects, negate or distort physical laws, and to cause various forms of energy to spontaneously appear or disappear. She has an affinity with natural elements and phenomena, stemming largely from her magical training under Agatha Harkness, and has trained often at using her hexes to deflect projectiles or to cause enemies to stumble or otherwise suffer the effects of "bad luck". Ultimately, the hexes are not under the Witch's direct control, although she can influence the nature of their effects with great concentration and effort. This makes her one of the few Avengers that Ultron fears; his adamantium shell cannot repel magic. She has displayed the ability to cancel Longshot and Domino's powers of probability and has also once turned Longshot into a cat. *'Flight:' Wanda has recently portrayed the ability to fly, though even prior to her mental collapse she has inexplicably demonstrated such an ability. The full extent to this ability is unknown. Abilities '''Expert Knowledge of Sorcery:' Wanda was trained by Agatha Harkness in witchcraft. Her sorceress training has not given her a set of powers separate from her mutant abilities, but only honed her control over her existing abilities. She has, however, a special affinity for the natural elements and materials that witches utilize in their spells: the four alchemical elements, wood, organic substances, etc. Expert Combatant: Wanda has also been trained in hand-to-hand combat by both Captain America and Hawkeye. Expert Tactician: When sane, the experience and leadership skills that come from years of active duty as an Avenger. Strength level The Scarlet Witch possesses the normal human strength of a woman of her age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise. Weaknesses Mental Illness: Although Wanda appears to be currently sane, her mental stability is still questionable, and after the events of the Skrull Secret Invasion, she still appears quite sane if powerless and lacking her previous memories. And it is unknown of whether or not she truly has any physical weaknesses as of now. Perception Range: Her range of hex-casting was limited by her line of sight. (She couldn't watch a live television broadcast and cause a hex-phenomenon to occur at its point of origin). Physical Condition: Hexes had a degree of unreliability, which was further affected by her physical condition: when well rested, in good health, and mentally and emotionally alert, Scarlet Witch could cast numerous hex-spheres in rapid succession and attain desirable results for almost an hour. Overextension: Despite this enhanced precision, her hexes were not necessarily guaranteed to work, particularly if she had been straining herself or using her powers excessively. If overextended, her hexes could backfire, causing probability to work against her wishes or to undo previous hexes. Parphernalia Equipment Formerly Avengers Identicard Transportation Formerly Avengers Quinjet Category:Mutants Category:Brotherhood Category:Avenger Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Alpha Level Mutant Category:Villains Category:Flight Category:Heroes Category:Necromancy Category:Omega level mutants